In communication systems, digital signals often need to be received and then retransmitted by a repeater. Received signals and retransmitted signals can be in different signaling and coding schemes. When signals are retransmitted, both the data portion of the signal and the clock portion of the signal are recovered and the data portion undergoes digital signal processing. The clock frequency of the received signal is often not aligned with the local clock frequency of the retransmitting receiver (frequency offset) or the frequency ratio of the received clock signal and the transmitter clock signal is such that it causes some small error when the clock portion and data portion are re-combined. The clock portion of the signal can accumulate small errors during several retransmissions, seriously degrading the signal.
Consequently, it would be advantageous if an apparatus existed that is suitable for maintaining clock signal integrity during retransmission of a digital signal.